How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Claim? A State-by-State Guide

Every state has a hard expiration date for personal-injury cases. It is called the statute of limitations, and it does not bend. Miss it by a single day and the courthouse door closes, even if you have a slam-dunk case and a sympathetic story.

Most people learn this rule too late. Here is what you need to know about your deadline, and the surprising things that can change it.

How the clock works

The clock usually starts on the date of the injury. In most states for ordinary personal-injury cases — car wrecks, slip and falls, dog bites, ordinary negligence — you have two or three years from that day to file a lawsuit. Not to settle the claim. Not to send a demand letter. To file in court. After that, the case is barred forever.

The common deadlines, at a glance

These are the general personal-injury statutes of limitations for adult plaintiffs in negligence cases. There are exceptions in every state; the “general” rule is a starting point, not the final word.

• 2 years: California, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio, Virginia, Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, Alabama, Iowa, Idaho, Kentucky.
• 3 years: New York, Washington, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Colorado, Rhode Island, Vermont, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, D.C., Arkansas.
• 4 years: Florida (only for incidents on or after March 24, 2023 — previously 4 years; the legislature shortened it to 2 years for newer claims, so double-check your incident date), Nebraska, Utah, Wyoming.
• 5 years or longer: Missouri, Tennessee's one-year rule is a famous outlier in the other direction.
• 1 year: Kentucky for car accidents (separate from the 2-year general rule), Louisiana, Tennessee.

The clock that runs much faster

If a city, county, state, or federal entity might be liable — a municipal bus, a pothole, a government-owned building, a public hospital — the deadline is often much shorter. You usually have to file a written “notice of claim” with the agency before you ever get to a lawsuit, and that notice is commonly due in 60 to 180 days, not years.

Miss the notice, and you usually lose the right to sue at all. Government claims are the most common way otherwise-good cases die.

The clock that runs slower

A few rules can extend your deadline. None of them are automatic, and none should be relied on without a lawyer's confirmation.

• The discovery rule. If you could not reasonably have known you were injured at the time — common in toxic-exposure and medical-malpractice cases — the clock may start when you discovered, or should have discovered, the injury.
• Minor plaintiffs. If the injured person was under 18 at the time, most states pause (“toll”) the clock until they turn 18. A child injured at 10 may still have until age 20 or 21 to file.
• Defendant left the state. If the person who hurt you fled or hid, the clock may pause while they were out of reach.
• Mental incapacity. In some states, the clock tolls while the plaintiff is legally incapacitated.

What to do if you are close to the deadline

Two pieces of advice. First, call a lawyer today, not tomorrow. Filing a lawsuit takes preparation, and a competent attorney will not take a case with a deadline in the next forty-eight hours without knowing they can hit it. Second, do not let the conversation with insurance buy you false comfort. Insurance negotiation does not stop the statute. Insurers know this and sometimes use it.

The honest bottom line

If your injury happened in the last six months, you almost certainly have time. If it happened more than two years ago, you need to find out today whether you still do. The deadline is the one thing the legal system is unsympathetic about.